BABY NAMES

Curious which baby names are already stealing the show in 2020? From newcomers like Alexander to ever-popular picks like Olivia, here are the boy and girl names predicted to top the charts this year, plus more naming trends to consider.

HOLIDAY

Wow Dad this year with a homemade gift that he'll keep forever. From printable cards to cute custom magnets, these Father's Day craft ideas for toddlers, preschoolers, and big kids make perfect presents.

Do Your Kids Really Need to Eat Breakfast?

We've all heard it before: "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day." But in the mad dash of school day mornings–making sure everyone is awake, dressed and on the school bus or in the car on time–completing all of that and providing a well-balanced breakfast can be a challenge worthy of an Olympic medal.

"It is too early to say that we should stop eating breakfast," Natalia Stasenko, R.D. and mom says.

Both studies only evaluated the role breakfast played in adults' weight loss and energy goals, not children's. And Stasenko adds, kids have an entirely different set of nutritional needs that breakfast can help to fulfill.

"Sometimes we like to take research on adults and apply it to children, but that doesn't really work," Jill Castle R.D., mom and author of Fearless Feeding – How to Raise Healthy Eaters from High Chair to High School says. "There is a lot of research out there on the benefits of breakfast for children." Breakfast helps kids pay better attention in school and is another chance for kids to consume key nutrients they need to grow, like calcium and complex carbohydrates and healthy fats.

"Kids aren't like adults," Castle explains. "They're not able to tell themselves that they can hold off to eat until after school. It affects their behaviors. They just get tired and can't focus. And for a child in school, that's one of the worst things that could happen. Adults have this mind over matter thing that kids don't have."

Stasenko also mentions that because children typically sleep for longer amounts of time compared to adults, they are technically fasting for longer, and so breakfast could be more important on that end too.

So keep giving your kids breakfast. And to make it even more effective, Castle and Stasenko share a few of rules of thumb:

Skip the baked goods. "I cannot think of any disadvantages of a balanced and nutritious breakfast. But eating croissants with butter every morning worth 700 calories can compromise quality of diet, so what you eat for breakfast is very important," Stasenko says.

Avoid serving the same breakfast back-to-back. "Always rotate the meals. An egg-based breakfast on Monday, fruit and yogurt-based breakfast on Tuesday," Castle says.